Gundogs

An £800 pair of dummy launchers proved key in the training of young bitch Abiann Flawless, which landed the ultimate accolade at the 88th Cocker Spaniel Championship, held on the 6,400-acre Sandringham estate on 8 and 9 January 2018 by gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen. After two days…

You might have seen a rather pleasing story that appeared in the papers last November. According to a study of 3.4million Swedes, dog owners have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease than those who don’t have a canine companion. Even more significant, ownership of a hunting breed gave the greatest…

One of the most frustrating things about good gundogs is that their working lives are so short. A dog is typically three or four years old when it matures into the best you have ever had, but five or six years later you realise that his working life is approaching…

Q: My dog has suddenly started sneezing. Can dogs get colds and flu like humans? Over the past few days there have been persistent bouts of sneezing, runny nose and she snores when asleep as if her nose is blocked. So can dogs get colds? A: Dogs don’t get colds…

Most of my friends have more than one dog, they may have a spaniel or two for beating, a retriever for shooting at a peg or picking-up and a few of them even have a “terrorist” (terrier) to keep the rodent population in check. But, just imagine that you could…

This is not an uncommon question and, in my humble view, gundog handling is an important aspect of a gundog’s training and should not be discounted as simply being a “trick” or clever. If you plan to shoot over your dog, in any form, you will find it an invaluable…

A car sick dog is miserable and the condition can be caused by different factors. It may not be due to motion. For many puppies their first experience of travel sickness may be associated with unpleasantness, such as leaving his/her litter mates for the first time, or with a trip…

Underactive thyroid – known as hypothyroidism Let me list your dog’s clinical signs: Lethargy Weight gain Bilaterally symmetrical alopecia Skin changes Itchy skin It would seem most likely that your dog has an underactive thyroid, referred to as hypothyroidism. In very large breeds, the condition occurs between two and three…

The Hungarian wirehaired vizsla (HWV) is a relatively new breed, created a century ago in Hungary by crossing smooth-haired vizslas with other pointer breeds — among them the German wirehaired pointer and the pudelpointer — to produce the dog we know today. Tough, all-purpose hunting dog The breed’s development was…

Risk and factors of bloat in dogs A recent study by the Royal Veterinary College’s Veterinary Companion Animal Surveillance System, which looked into the frequency, risk factors and survival of dogs that had bloat, found that of the dogs that underwent surgical treatment, 80% survived. (It should be borne in…

The causes for problems marking a dummy Some young dogs can develop this quirk and, although it tends to disappear as time passes and they get experience of the real thing, it can be frustrating for the trainer. Eye contact is something that, as gundog trainers, we work hard to…

Q: My dog has a very dry nose that has started to become cracked, and food tends to get dried on after she has eaten. I wipe her nose after every meal, but it is getting no better. Is there anything else I should do? Is a dry nose in…

I love shooting over dogs, so when my friend Nathan Hawkins posted an open invitation to shoot over a breed I had never heard of — the Clumber spaniel — I jumped at the chance. Charming Clumber spaniels This is a breed that has been apparently superseded by springers and…

A: Yes. Under the right conditions dogs, and indeed any warm-blooded mammal, can suffer hypothermia. Hypothermia in dogs occurs when an animal’s core body temperature falls and stays below the normal range. The normal body temperature range for a dog is 38°C to 39.5°C (100.5°F to 102.5°F). Dogs with low body temperature will aim to conserve heat by…

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